Want To Sleep Better? The Brother And Sister Behind Vitruvi Offer Essential Oils For Every Activity

Sara Panton and Sean Panton are the sister and brother duo behind Vitruvi, a company inspired by science to take aromatherapy to a new level. Vitruvi is an essential oils company that is creating oils to complement customers daily rituals. Just as you may play music to inspire you to workout, or read a book to put you to sleep, the Panton siblings believe that there is a scent to pair with your daily activities to help get you into the zone.

“The concept for Vitruvi started when I was in my first year of medical school learning about the olfactory cranial nerve, which is the nerve responsible for scent,” Sara Panton said. “I had studied global health previously and found it fascinating that scent is our most powerful yet underutilized of the senses. I thought it would be interesting to have a collection of products that allowed someone to use scent strategically throughout the day. Having a scent for different rituals and through the science of scent association helping the body create different habits by pairing a scent to a moment of the day.”

Vitruvi product, photo credit Reece Voyer

Sara Panton began blending her own products. She created a scent for waking up, for working, for meditating, for sleeping which meant that no matter how much she was travelling, or how hectic her day was there was a grounding moment with a scent that was designed to associate with that ritual.

“It is really about helping establish rituals by taking botanicals and oils that have been used traditionally for centuries and redesigning them in a modern way,” Sara Panton said. “I use our focus blend at my desk at the office, my body gets trained to associate that scent with productive time. Then when I am travelling and want to do some work on the plane I put that scent on and it triggers the habit of the office ritual and puts me in the work mode.”

Vitruvi products, photo credit Reece Voyer

Sara and her brother Sean worked on the concept for Vitruvi as a passion project for a year in the late evenings.

“It quickly got a good amount of traction so Sara left medical school, I was eager to start a business so I left my job and we started to build and run the company full time,” Sean Panton said. “We continued to grow month over month and it wasn’t until then that we discovered we had stumbled into a 6 billion dollar industry that hadn’t been innovated in for the past 25 years and we were starting to make a dent.”

Vitruvi product, photo credit Reece Voyer

The duo launched their first collection with 7 blends designed for different moments of the day called the Rituals Collection.

“We launched across Canada with the luxury retailer Holt Renfrew and then everything took off from there,” Sara Panton said. “Since then we have released 4 new collections and have been growing month over month ever since with most growth in the US. Since our launch, our focus has been our partnerships with our 200+ retailers and creating a beautiful online experience.”

Vitruvi roll on, photo credit Reece Voyer

“We came to market right when organic skincare and hair and body oils started becoming popular, there simply wasn’t a company creating high quality essential oils that are well designed and that people wanted to have on their countertops,” Sean Panton said. “Instead of being thought of as ‘hippie’ or something you would find in a health foods store we make it easy for people to create their own home apothecary with products that are multipurpose and look beautiful. Creating your own house cleaner and skin oils just like your grandma used to make, but cooler.”

Vitruvi sources their oils from over 30 countries and all bottling and manufacturing occurs in Vancouver, Canada. From France to Madagascar and Australia and Sri Lanka, many of Vitruvi’s complex roll on blends contain oils from 12 countries in a single bottle.

The siblings attribute their fast-growing to success to their team work.

“I don't think we could have moved as fast and gotten to where we are right now without being brother and sister,” Sara Panton said. “We've always been very close and there is a natural trust and understanding of each other that allows us to move through decision making or bringing up tension points honestly. “

“We grew up in a really rural town surrounded by farms and the ocean,” Sean Panton said. “It was a great place to grow up but there weren’t many kids around so Sara and I became friends and not just siblings. The level of honesty and understanding of each other that we have has saved us a lot of time, we work through problems and solutions quickly and there is a level of trust that you can’t find anywhere else. Our communication is clear and concise, being brother and sister has eliminated the typical politics you sometimes see between founders were differences in opinions and problems can linger.”

Vitruvi products, photo credit Reece Voyer

The duo has plans to continue to grow Vitruvi, recently taking on VEGA founder Charles Chang as an investor.

“Our home collection is next for us,” Sean Panton said. “We currently have a 200+ wait list for our home diffusers. They are incredible quality and are made from hand-milled porcelain they are like nothing else on the market.”

“Continuing to expand our team will be another major focus for Vitruvi,” Sara Panton added. “Vancouver has no shortage of talent and has produced some brilliant health-centric consumer brands; lululmeon, VEGA, MEC. We are excited to continue to grow a high-performance team in Vancouver.”